He’s there. He really is.

Steve Brown:
He’s there. He really is. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life with our host, author, and seminary professor, Steve Brown. He’s nobody’s guru. He’s just one beggar telling other beggars where he found bread. If you’re hungry for God, the real God behind all the lies, you’ve come to the right place.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great week-end. Wasn’t that program yesterday with the Bishop a great program? Good time with him. I learn, every time I’m around Dr. Holcomb, I learn new things that are life changing. Well, we’re back in our study in Philippians, and we’re talking if you’ve been with us about things that are supernatural in the life of a Christian. About wonder, what is it in your life that can only be explained by the supernatural? And what is it in your witness that can only be explained by others by the supernatural? And we’ve seen supernatural joy, Philippians 4:4. At a Christian funeral, Christians laugh. When Christians go through tragedy, and I have over many, many years been allowed into the lives of a lot of my brothers and sisters in Christ. At the point where their child died, where there was a suicide, where there was divorce and pain and difficulty. And I can’t tell you the number of times when there was laughter in the middle of the darkness. And none of us could understand where it came from. Came from him, it’s supernatural. And then we spent a good deal of time last week talking about the supernatural reaction in Philippians 4:5a. Gentleness, and we saw that the Greek word for gentleness means more than that. It means cutting slack. It means seeing the justice behind the justice. And that is what needs to be going on in the church. We ought to be able to say to our friends, and I have friends who won’t come to church because they don’t think they’re good enough. And my father didn’t go to church because he didn’t think he was good enough to say, look, it’s the one place you can go where you’ll be accepted no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done, no matter who you’ve hurt. And that needs to be a reality in the church. And it’s a supernatural reality. And the supernatural reaction, the justice behind the justice. Now, let me show you something else. Thirdly, I want you to note from this text, and the text is from Philippians 4. In fact, I probably ought to read that to you again, because it’s been a week or so since we read it. This is what those verses say, verses 4 through 7.

Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness

the justice behind the justice

be evident in all. The Lord is near; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Now, going back to what I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself. Thirdly, you need to note a supernatural relationship. Look at verse 5b through 6.

The Lord is near.

Really?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God.

A friend of mine visited not too long ago, had gone through a horrible automobile accident. During the whole time, my friend was saying, stop man, stop man, stop man. Let me tell you that whole story. My friend was Richard Shankweiler, who’s in heaven now, my beloved friend. And years ago, when we were kids, we were at a graduate school at Boston University and driving from Cape Cod every morning into Boston to go to the university. We had all, there were six of us, done other things. One, a teacher. Another, a psychologist. One, a judge that was Richard. I’d been a disc jockey and a newsman. But we’d all done other things. And we were kind of out of the box for this graduate school of theology. But it was, on winter mornings, a very dangerous time. And we were on the Southeast Expressway, and there was ice on the street, and the traffic stopped. And my, and I put on my brakes, and I didn’t stop. In fact, I was barreling right to the rear end of the car in front of me. And not even slowing down. I turned, and eventually went over the median onto oncoming traffic. And did a 360 on that traffic on the ice, and then we ended up on the side of the road, whole, safe, and stopped. We were liberals in those days. Man, we sounded like fundamentalists when we started praying. Man, all of a sudden, we realized somebody was there other than us. But the interesting thing was, as I was barreling toward that car, going to hit it’s rear end, Richard was sitting next to me and saying, Stop man! Stop man! Stop man! And when it was over, I said to him, Richard! Didn’t you see that I was doing all that I could? Why were you yelling at me? Stop man! And then he laughed and he said, Steve, I wasn’t talking to you. That was said facetiously, but it was very true. And we discovered it, and you can discover it in your life also. It’s a supernatural reality of a presence that most people don’t get. C.S. Lewis, before he was a Christian, said.

Somebody was always watching.

And then he explained.

I would sit down to read, and I’d write, and behind me I would feel somebody was looking over my shoulder. And when I turned around, nobody was there.

And then after he became a Christian, he said.

I discovered his name, it was Jesus.

It’s a supernatural relationship that is there even when we don’t see it. It’s an old Indian story of how a young boy becomes a man. They come and take him away from his home, take him out into the forest and plant him there for the whole night. There are the noises of the forest, the noises of the animals. It is a scary time for those little boys. But in the morning when the sun rises, each boy will look up and he will see in the distance his father with a bow and arrow overseeing the darkness through which the boy has gone. When I was at that graduate school I told you about at Boston University, we had a theology professor who was quite liberal, but they called him an evangelical liberal. And let me tell you what his testimony was to us, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the class. He said this, he said.

When my wife died over a period of months, it was the most horrible time in my life. I cried and she cried, and we went through the darkness that you wouldn’t believe.

And then he would say to the class.

Gentlemen and ladies, During that time, I experienced a presence that I couldn’t explain. I experienced a reality. He was there through it all. And when I look back, I could not have gotten through it without Him.

I used to make fun of the pietistic hymns. I don’t do that anymore.

Walking through the garden, I must tell Jesus.

E.A. Hoffman, who wrote the I Must Tell Jesus, said this about the hymn that he wrote.

I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress, he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own. Tempted and tried, I need a Great Savior. One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. He, all my cares and sorrows, will share.

That’s his testimony. And it’s mine, too. And if you’ll think about it over your life, there have been times when you had a peace, when you had a reality, when you had an understanding that is only supernatural. He’s there. He promised. He will not leave you as an orphan. He will not leave you alone. That works. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our study of Philippians 4 and exploring the impact of God’s supernatural power on us and others. So much good stuff we’re covering here and yet still so much more to discover. So, tell you what, let’s meet here again tomorrow and we’ll do just that. So, if I said, remember that one thing you did? Chances are something very specific comes to mind for you. And that’s the bad news. But you know who doesn’t remember that one thing? Yeah, Jesus. That’s the good news. And because Jesus death paid the debt for all our sins, guilt can actually lead us back to Christ to find true and lasting forgiveness. Steve wrote about this in a mini-book called Feeling Guilty: Grace for Your Mistakes. Can we send that to you for free? If so, then call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail Steve@keylife.org to ask for that mini-book. If you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the mini-book called Feeling Guilty: Grace for Your Mistakes. And finally, if you’re blessed by the ministry of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your giving? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.